Nightwing and Raven
by Castaway43
Summary: Five years after the break-up of the Teen Titans, Robin(now Nightwing) and Raven meet again. A reluctant partnership is formed to fight the Joker, but the duo's biggest problem may be surviving themselves.(Co-written with legoleo25)
1. Chapter 1

Nightwing POV

A cold November night in New York City found Nightwing a covert mission. Batcave Intel had picked up 3 possible suspects carrying Joker weapons. Batman was busy, so Nightwing was following one of the three. It had been 3 hours of silence on various rooftops. The suspect had been difficult to locate, but now that Nightwing found him the job had gotten pretty boring. Suspect was sitting on a bench reading the news. Of course Batman had asked him to do this mission, while he was getting all the action fighting Clayface. The only interesting thing about the evening was swinging from rooftop to rooftop, and even that was getting old. Nightwing checked his belt for food. He had eaten his last granola bar, and he was very hungry. Another 20 minutes passed. Nightwing was pretty annoyed at Batman. If this miserable mission turned out to be nothing but a lonely newspaper reader, Batman was going to get a piece of his mind. The "suspect" was wearing a dark hoodie with a large backpack. No wonder he was hard to locate, that was every guy the city. Luckily he had a distinct tattoo on his face or Nightwing would never have found him. "If this guy doesn't move in the next ten minutes," thought Nightwing, "I am going to leave." He swung to a different vantage point, so he wouldn't go into what batman called Gargoyle Mode. As Nightwing continued to observe with his mask's binoculars, he heard a voice behind him.

Raven POV

Raven blew a violet strand of hair out of her face as she gazed impassively at the shimmering lights of New York City. Perched on top of a skyscraper like she was, most people would have screamed and run as far away from the un-fenced in edge as they could. However, Raven was not most people. She was a half-demon, the 'unholy offspring' of the demon lord Trigon and his discarded bride Arella and ironically, a superhero and former member of the Teen Titans. Just as her mind wandered to thinking of her ex-teammates, a familiar dark shadow flitted from rooftop to rooftop. Hoping desperately despite her pessimistic nature, Raven silently teleported to the rooftop opposite the one she had been one, her body reappearing on the rough surface in a pool of shadows. The silhouette quickened its pace, just allowing her to catch a glimpse of unruly dark hair and a black body suit with a bird symbol emblazoned on the chest. An alien half-smile pulling at her lips, Raven called out to the figure, gaining a strange sense of satisfaction when it froze.

"Boy Blunder, or should I say former boy blunder. Subtle as always."


	2. Chapter 2

Raven POV

The dark figure turned slowly, looking cornered. He walked into the light, revealing himself to be her former teammate, as Raven had guessed.

"Raven, "Robin-now Nightwing- said quietly. Then he squatted down, focusing back on his previous target, and making Raven feel somewhat insulted. Before she could open her mouth, though, Nightwing mimed zipping his lips. "Shhh," he whispered. "I'm following the guy over there with the backpack." The demi-demon sighed. New identity or not, five years had not changed Dick at all. He was still the same brief, off-putting hero that preferred to give only the most basic and necessary of information. She crouched beside her old friend.

"Are you chasing a thief who steals children's backpacks? Or could that be possibly, a parent?" The banter slipped off her tongue more easily than expected. Perhaps her self-imposed exile had affected more than Raven had originally thought. Nightwing rolled his eyes, though the only reason she could determine that was that he rolled his head too.

"Keep your voice down. Don't you have fleas to pick at or something?" He retorted snappishly. Raven snorted.

"Please. Even fleas are too scared to get within three feet of me."

"Well if Joker starts using flea gas, I'll call you for backup." Raven ignored the taunt, instead opting to ask her initial question.

"So, Boy Blunder, is there a reason for you being so far away from Gotham?

"Can't talk. He's on the move." And with that, Nightwing leapt off the building, a glider extending from his back. Raven floated towards the young hero, keeping up with him easily.

"You didn't give me an answer, Dick." Nightwing winced at the name, although whether it was from paranoia or shock she couldn't tell.

"Is that an insult or are you calling me?" At his fellow superhero's unamused expression, Nightwing swallowed his chuckle hastily. "At least turn into your namesake, if you insist on stalking me. I plan on going fast. And I'm operating out of New York now. Didn't you know?" Had it not been for the genuine puzzlement in his voice, Raven would have thought that he was mocking her. "Batman sent me intel that three suspects may have Joker's weapons. He's preoccupied with Clayface at the moment, so I have the job of recon."

"Do I look like Beastboy to you? And no, I didn't know. You haven't contacted me in five years." Her words came out sounding bitterer than Raven would have liked. Her companion shifted slightly.

"Red Robin and Robin are following the other two suspects." He said quietly.

"I don't particularly care about your little clones, Boy Wonder," said Raven, just as quietly. Sensing his discomfort, she decided for once to cut him some slack. "Is Bats as gloomy as ever?" Nightwing looked relieved.

"Gloomier," he said, a small smile appearing on his normally, (at least from what Raven knew) stoic face. "He almost beats you in terms of gloominess."

"Ha ha." Raven deadpanned.

Suddenly, Nightwing was serious again. "He just switched cars!" He grappled to a nearby building. Raven followed him.

"I'm the telepathic one, remember?"

"That's so fascinating. I'll have to add that to my list of facts I already know and never will need." Nightwing drawled sarcastically.

"Forget that, Boy Blunder, and I won't enter your mind and pull you out of insanity when you need it. Again." Frowning slightly, Raven voiced another question that had been bothering her. "Why are you talking to me now, Dick? Why not for the past five years?" Nightwing veered to the left as his target switched cars yet again. Then he turned to Raven with raised eyebrows.

"Mainly because it's hard to ignore a flying telepath right next to me."

"Stop avoiding me, Nightwing. You were one of my only friends, and you ditched me for a billionaire playboy/brooding superhero." Raven didn't know why she had chosen now of all times to vent, and she also didn't know where all this anger and hostility came from.

"Look can we talk later?" Nightwing fiddled with his suit as he spoke. "The suspect went into a subway station. I'm going to have to switch tactics."

"Do you need help?" Raven asked without thinking.

Pressing a button on his arm, Nightwing replied distractedly, "Sure." Suddenly, his suit looked different, darker and harder to see, somehow. "Stealth mode," He said, glancing at Raven's perplexed expression. "It's no Martian Manhunter, but if I stay in the shadows, no one will notice." Abruptly, the suit flickered, and then returned to it's regular color. "Argh! Stealth mode isn't going to work. I need a new strategy. There's a sewer tunnel roughly two miles away that crosses with the tunnel the suspect is on."

Raven smiled. "Want to be a literal shadow that bad?"

"Not particularly, no. But if you could get me there quickly, I could jump on the train as it passes. But we have to hurry, the train is starting up."

Raven raised a purple eyebrow. "Fine. I warn you though, teleportation is not pleasant."

"Fine. I'm sure I've had worse. Let's go." He grabbed her hand just Raven disappeared. They appeared on the train and Nightwing dropped her hand, looking mildly discomfited.

Raven smirked. "How was it."

Nightwing rubbed his stomach. "Like an eel was crawling through my intestines. So... okay, I guess."

Raven grimaced. "I don't know how you know how that feels."

Dick grimaced back. "You probably don't want to know. Let's just say there were some interesting meals on the circus train." Then, seamlessly sliding back into the role of leader, he directed, "There are windows on the ceiling. Spread out and find the guy. And don't draw attention to yourself."

"Fine," said Raven, miffed at his low expectation of her abilities. She melted into the shadows for the third time this night, just catching Nightwing's mutter of "Show-off", and smiling again. It felt good to smile.

Nightwing POV

Nightwing was tall, and there wasn't a whole lot of room between the subway and the ceiling. Right now he was wishing he has Raven's powers, though he didn't dream of telling her that. He paused for a minute to shudder at the thought of her mockery. His mind quickly focused on the task at hand. Being in the circus as a kid, he had had some practice on a tightrope. Walking across a moving train was child's play to him. He silently walked towards the front of the train, examining the unknowing passengers below. He quickly made it to the front of the train. The suspect wasn't on his end. He pressed a button on his arm and spoke into a miniscule speaker.  
"I searched my end, no luck. Any word at the back?"  
A minute or two passed. Nightwing imagined it was hard to speak through an intercom in shadow form. Another minute passed. He was beginning to get worried. For once this evening, Nightwing felt relieved to hear Raven's echoing voice.  
"Found it."  
"It?"  
"The room with the man."  
"Okay, where is it." Nightwing was getting annoyed at how vague she was being. This is probably what she thinks I sound like, thought Nightwing. But at least I give all the necessary information.  
"Second-last door on the left," she said at last.  
"Nightwing swiftly but carefully walked towards the back of the subway.  
"Ok I see him. He's alone." Good, thought Nighwing to himself.  
"He has several weapons, though," added Raven.  
Nightwing did a quick scan with his mask. The backpack had several guns, and some odd parts he didn't recognize. He scanned the man. Probably in his late thirties, in pretty good shape. This was going to be easy.  
Nightwing took half a second to consider his next move. Train would reach its destination in the next five to ten minutes. Might as well attack now. Nightwing set his right Escrima to pierce, and his left to stun. He slammed his right Escrima into the glass. It broke easily, and Nightwing landed gracefully on top of the suspect. What most people don't know about windows is that if they are thick enough, it can be very difficult to break with force. However, if you pierce it with a small sharp surface, is will become cracked and easy to break.  
As Nightwing fell on top of the man, he reached for his backpack with surprising speed. Unfortunately for him, Nightwing had already set his other Escrima to stun. One light poke and the man became immobilized. This only lasted about 5 seconds, since he hadn't made the charge very powerful. The man jerked awake and instantly began struggling.  
"On the ground!" shouted Nightwing, and he pointed his Escrima threateningly. The man was on the ground of course, since Nightwing was on top of him, but he couldn't think of anything better to shout. The man stopped struggling.  
"Boy Blunder?" asked Raven with a smirk. Nightwing rolled his eyes.  
"What Raven?"  
"You realize there's a bomb on that chair, right?" Nightwing stunned the man distractedly and looked over his shoulder. Sure enough, sewn into the chair, was a timer.  
"Oh crap. Ten seconds."  
He instantly began typing furiously on his wrist. He had to hack into the bomb. After a second and a half, he realized he'd have to shut off the bomb manually. He scanned the bomb. This was unlike anything he had seen before. He went to work, his fingers expertly hacking the system.  
"Not working." Said Raven, a note of panic in her voice . He looked at the timer. He had added ten seconds but he wasn't going to be able to hack it, it was too weird and complicated.  
"Okay new plan." He grabbed the chair firmly, and pulled with all his might. After a second or two of doing this, the bottom of the chair, and the bomb, ripped out of the train. He looked at the timer. 12 seconds left. He crouched, and jumped as high as he could. The springs in his boots helped, but it was certainly an impressive jump. As soon as he was out the hole he had come in from, he instantly was pulled backward and off of the train. As he painfully tumbled to the ground, he heard Raven's voice on his intercom say  
"If we survive this, remind me to kill you." Not bothering to respond. He let go of the bomb and grappled back to the train and climbed in.  
"I got it out.


End file.
